Windows 2000 Workstation Printer Installation

There are several methods possible for installing print drivers on a Windows 2000 workstation.

1.

The easiest appears to be by searching the Active Directory. This allows you to search for printers by location or name as well as particular printer capabilities. Since it relies on replication, added printers might not show up immediately.

2.

Using the Web is also fairly easy and allows you to check on printer status. This can also be done by Unix workstations.

Method 1:
Adding Printers by Searching the Active Directory

Basic Search

Click on the Find Now button to display a list of printers that meet your criteria

3.

Double click on the printer you want to connect to. This will automatically install any necessary drivers.

4.

You can change the sort order by clicking on Name, Location, Model or Server Name.

Feature Search

In addition to the previous criteria, you can also search for printers that have particular features such as double sided, color, resolution and speed.

Advanced Search

Additional search criteria can be made using the Advanced tab

Fields that can be included in the search criteria are:

Method 2:
Adding Printers from the Web

1.

Start Internet Explorer on a workstation .

2.

Enter in http://server/printers where server is the name of the server you want to query. If you are not logged into the domain where the print server is, you will be prompted for a user account that is.

3.

Click on the printer you want to add

4.

Click on Connect to install the necessary drivers and add it to Control Panel / Printers

5.

The initial screen shows all printers on that server and their:
Name, Status, Location, Print Jobs, Model, and Comment

6.

Clicking on a printer will bring up the specific printer queue detail

7.

From here there are three sections:View

Document List – Shows current documents in the printer queue

Properties – Shows the Printer Properties

Device Status – Shows items such as power save and paper tray status

All Printers – This brings up the window with all the printers on the server